Plastic coated wire products are widely available in the form of shelves, racks, baskets, and other like household conveniences. These extremely popular consumer items are usually fabricated from metal wire which is appropriately shaped, and which is metal plated or coated with vinyl or other plastic materials. The resultant wire product is suitably corrosive and scratch resistant. Vinyl coating is available in a variety of colors for pleasing appearance.
Coated or plated wire products such as baskets or bins have proven popular and useful. Such products include interconnected wire members which typically define an open topped basket or bin having a bottom and, typically, a plurality of side walls, usually four. Such baskets, bins and other products are often intended to nest one inside another for storage, shipping, and display. In use, however, it is often desirable to stack such products one on top of another.
Nestability and stackability are normally inconsistent objectives. To nest, the bottom of a product, such as an open topped bin or basket, is made smaller than the top, and the sides are flared so one product can fit within another like product. To stack, the bottom of one product sits on the top of another, i.e., the dimensions of the bottom of one product is at least as large as the top of another. Thus, designing a product to stack involves requirements which conflict with the structural configurations for nesting. To accommodate these conflicting objectives, some products are provided with interengageable members to facilitate stacking. Often, these interengageable members extend outwardly from the sides of the products, making nesting difficult and, even where possible, results in limiting the nestability of such products.
A number of products, such as baskets or bins, are usually nested in an effort to reduce space requirements for shipping, storage, and display. Since many stores are self-service stores, it is highly desirable for customers to be able to quickly and easily separate a product such as a bin or basket from a nest so that a unit being purchased can be readily removed.
To this end, a coated wire bin unit combining the convenience of a stackable bin arrangement with the desirable features of easy and compact nesting would be particularly useful and desirable.